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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio shows www.nerdthugradio.com!
Raw yet again felt off balance with it kicking off with another chapter in the Roman Reigns rivalry with Shance McMahon with their match set to be in Saudi Arabia this coming weekend. It was immediately followed by The Miz coming out and helping Seth Rollins cut dual promos against both Brock Lesnar and Baron Corbin, but wait? Didn't The Miz have a massive rivalry with Shane? He didn't want to run out and help Roman against Shane? This is confusing. Raw overall has been confusing, everything from the Lucha House Party three on one match against Lars Sullivan to Rey Mysterio giving the US title directly back to Samoa Joe, I didn't know that was allowed. It feels like everything is just going crazy right now like whoever is spinning the plates is losing focus is kind of how it feels. With the Saudi Arabia event building up to literally this Friday they finally decided to put Triple H into the ring with Randy Orton and let the two of them say anything at all publicly and then also had The Undertaker issue vague threats to Goldberg who wasn't even on Raw. The beating on Seth Rollins from Brock Lesnar was brutal but honestly it wasn't all that interesting, Rollin's title match is against Baron Corbin but everyone knows Lesnar is lurking somewhere back stage, which makes the match less important it feels like.
Smackdown turned up the confusion a little bit more by beginning to push the next pay per view event which is apparently only two weeks away? What? We haven't even had this event yet and already Smackdown is talking about something new that's two weeks away? Shance McMahon at one point calls out Roman Reigns while he's in the ring with the Revival and for some reason Roman comes out by himself and takes yet another beating, why on earth would he even agree to do that? Finn Balor made his first appearance in about two weeks and he ran into the ring and took a very fast beating from Andrade, why would they even do that? Perhaps one of the most annoying parts of Smackdown was Lars Sullivan speaking for the first time and when asked why he's been mugging people for two weeks he asks if someone would ask the Nightingale why it sang it's sweet song. What? Who is he supposed to be, wrestling's Hannibal Lector? Perhaps the biggest highlight was Alexa Bliss winning a triple threat match to be the Number 1 contender for the Smackdown Women's Title.
Overall both Smackdown and Raw are feeling more and more like a mess and to me the biggest question I have at this point, is how long are matches like Triple H and Randy Orton or Undertaker and Goldberg going to be able to keep people's attention?
Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.